There are countless bands that stray from the traditional song formula and jam the hell out live. Many of these acts fall under the amorphous indie tag, but there are a few that have notable prog- and psychedelic rock undercurrents flowing through their music, which is naturally conducive to improvisation…
Steve Aoki is singularly focused on making sure your ass is partying. As founder of the now-famous Dim Mak record label, Aoki has built his dance party into an empire. Live, his over-the-top antics range from paddling through the crowd on a raft to tossing cake into the screaming audience…
TORO Y MOI at OGDEN THEATRE | 11/6/13 Toro Y Moi’s earliest shows were sometimes poorly received because they weren’t what people were expecting. It’s safe to say that Chaz Bundick has stepped it up considerably since then, and not just as a songwriter, but as a performer whose former…
Up-and-coming producer Beni Haze has been a fixture in certain areas of the music scene for a while now; although you might not necessarily recognize his name in conjunction with dance music (that’ll change soon, we’d wager), he played keyboard in Pnuma Trio with Paper Diamond’s Alex B., and he’s…
This is a new day for Turner Jackson. He’s completely reshaped, reinvigorated and ready to take on everything that’s in store for him. He has a whole new perspective these days, but it came at the immeasurably high price of losing friend and mentor Marcus “Arrilius” Hayes. Before his untimely…
Songs like “Getting Live” — which opens this album and drips with funky guitars and gritty bass lines before reaching a crescendo of futuristic sounds and robust beats — notwithstanding, it’s clear that GRiZ (aka Grant Kwiecinski) is much more interested in letting Rebel Era tell a story with emotion…
The Blue Rider’s self-titled release has a number of touchstones, among them Nuggets-era garage rock, the Stooges and the Cramps, and the resulting music sounds like something out of an early-’60s Louisiana juke joint, especially songs like the ultra-short “Innertube.” The record encompasses a variety of sounds — from psychedelic…
Indigenous Robot didn’t waste much time in producing a followup to Fireball, the quartet’s three-song EP from earlier this year. Castles plays like a natural complement to that release, with its unpredictable time signatures, surreal imagery and bizarre sound cues. But where Fireball largely stayed true to the band’s self-described…
While the ellipsis in front of …And the Black Feathers might immediately draw comparisons to, well, a certain other band that has three dots before its name, that’s essentially where the similarities end. That much is clear from the slow strum of the reverb-drenched guitar on “Evol (Part 1),” the…
In advance of his performance at Decadence this New Year’s Eve, Derek Vincent Smith will be making a very rare appearance with Mikey Thunder at the Ogden Theatre on Thursday, December 5. Tickets for the show are $45, and go on sale this Friday, November 8, at 10 a.m. Don’t…
Update, 12:15 p.m. 11/6/13: Bad news, y’all. Yeezus is no longer coming to Denver. The Kanye West show at the Pepsi Center, originally slated for November 3, and subsequently postponed, has now officially been canceled. The tour is set to resume next Thursday in Philadelphia, but the new routing means…
Miley Cyrus is coming to Denver. The former Miss Hannah Montana is bringing her tongue-wagging Bangerz Tour to the Mile High City on Tuesday, March 4. Tickets for the show range from $39.50 to $89.50 (plus fees) and go on sale next Saturday, November 16, at 10 a.m. at TicketHorse.com,…
Phish just finished a stunning run of shows on the East Coast last week in which the band debuted new material. While the new tunes will no doubt inspire much debate, the band’s already sprawling archive of performances provides endless fodder for discussions of which versions are the best. Admittedly,…
Although Chris Daniels will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of his group, Chris Daniels and the Kings, next year, he started out playing acoustic folk in the ’70s, first with the Rosewood Canyon and then with Magic Music, an outfit hailed as Colorado’s first jam band. We spoke to Daniels about…
This Friday, November 8, at the Paramount Theatre, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s current inductees, which include John Denver, Barry Fey, Harry Tuft, Red Rocks, Flash Cadillac, Sugarloaf, the Astronauts and KIMN radio, will be joined by a brand-new class that includes a peer group of folksingers, including Judy…
In his new column, award-winning goofball Shea Serrano, whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book, writes about his life and times. Katy Perry was born in 1984, except back then people called her “Katy Hudson” because, well, that’s her real name. In 2001, she was like,…
Music is life — or at least it is for us. When we’re not writing about it, we’re thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be…
Earlier this morning, we told you about a bunch of new shows going on sale this weekend, and we’ve just learned of a few more you should know about, including a collaborative tour featuring Paul Simon and Sting. The iconic songwriters are slated to perform together at the Pepsi Center…
This past spring at a Kottonmouth Kings show in LoDo, there was an altercation between two individuals that ultimately resulted in the death of one man, Daniel Lovato, a 39-year-old father of two from Golden. The incident took place in between acts sometime before the Kings were set to take…
Formed in Essen, Germany, in 1982, Kreator was one of the non-American pioneers of thrash. Like many of its peers, Kreator began as a speed metal band inspired by the new wave of British heavy metal, but the added influence of acts like Venom and Discharge produced an adrenalized thrash…
The Swayback released Double Four Time on its own more than a year and a half ago on its Long Gone Lads imprint. The album, which contained the band’s best material to date, is completely worthy of much greater exposure. So it’s heartening to hear that the band has finally…
Experimental house-music label Dirtybird has become a force to be reckoned with over the past couple of years, taking over entire stages at festivals and consistently showcasing what’s coming up next in the realm of house — even, some might argue, setting those trends before they become trendy. And that’s…
